The Fifth Mountain by Paolo Coelho – Some Excerpts

Can a man cast from his heart the pain of loss? No but he can find joy in something won.

Tragedies do happen. We can discover the reason, blame others, imagine how different our lives would be had they not occurred, but none of that is important, they did occur and so be it. From there onward we must put aside the feat that they evoke in us and being to rebuild.

There is no tragedy, only the unavoidable. Everything has its reason for being; you need only to distinguish what is temporary and what is lasting. What is temporary, the unavoidable. And what is lasting? The lessons of unavoidable.

Every human being sometime has tragedy enter hist life; it might be the destruction of a city, the death of a son, an unproved accusation, a sickness that left one lame forever. At that moment God challenged one to to confront him and to answer this question, “Why do you cling fast to an existence so short and so filled with suffering? What is the meaning of your struggle? The man who did not know to answer this question would resign to himself, while another, one who sought out a meaning to existence, feeling that God had been unjust, would challenge his own destiny. It was at that moment that a fire of a different type descended from the heavens – not the fire that kills but the kind that tears down ancient walls and imparts to each human being his true possibilities. Cowards never allow their hearts to blze with this fire; all they desire is for the changed situation to quickly return to what it was before, so they can go on living their lives and thinking their customary way. The brave, however, set a fire to that which was old and even at the cost of great internal suffering, abandon everything, including God, and continue onward. The brave are always stubborn. From heaven God smiles contentedly, for it was this that He desired, that each person take into his hands the responsibility for his life. For in the final analysis He had given His children the greatest gift of all gifts; the capacity to choose and determine their acts. Only those men and women with sacred flame in their hearts had the courage to confront Him. And they alone knew the path back to His love, for they understood that tragedy was not a punishment but a challenge.

He had fled from doubt. From defeat. From moments of indecision. But the Lord was generous and had led him to the abyss of the unavoidable, to show him that man must choose – and not accept his fate.

God was infinite in his mercy, and implacable in His severity with those who lacked courage to dare.

Is it always necessary to leave? It is always necessary to know when a stage of one’s life has ended. If you stubbornly cling to it after the need has passed, you lose the joy and meaning of the rest. And you rise being shaken to your senses by God.

Lord hearth the prayers of those who ask to put aside hatred. But He is deaf to those who would flee from love.

For many generations men tried to impose their will by force; they spoke of what they wanted but cared not what the people thought and all those empires have been destroyed. Our people have grown because they leaned how to listen; this is how we develop trade, by listening to what the other people desire and doing whatever was possible to satisfy him. The result is profit.

If you have a past that dissatisfies you, forget it now. Imagine a new story of your life, and believe in it. Concentrate only on those moments in which you achieved what you desired and this strength will help you accomplish what you want.

A child can always teach an adult three things; to be happy for no reason; to always be busy with something; and to know how to demand with all her might that which she desires.

Children are able to overcome what took place because they have no past – for them everything that matters is only the present.

Everything that happened could have happened but did not is carried with the wind and leaves no trace. Life is made of our attitudes. And there are certain things that the Gods oblige us to live through. Their reasons for this does not matter, and there is no action we can take to make them pass by.

Our souls are prisoners of the terror of death.

Freedom is to feel what the heart desired with no thought to the opinion of the rest.

It was then as he discovered death could elude him, fear of death returned. There was still the possibility of seeing the ocean, of finding a wife, having children, and completing his work in his shop.

Every man has the right to doubt his task, and to forsake it from time to time; but what he must not do is forget it. Whoever doubts not himself is unworthy for in his unquestioning belief in his ability; he commits the sin of pride. Blessed are those who go through moments of indecision.

Souls too, like rivulets and plants, needed a different kind of rain; hope, faith, a reason to live. When this did not come to pass everything in that soul died, even if the body went on living, and people could say “Here this body was once a man”.